The TORCH: The Way Church Newsletter 8: Launching
Good afternoon friends of The Way!
I am so excited to update everybody on all that God is doing at The Way Church!
We Launch Sunday: The Way Church started in the backyard of Pastor Steve and Loire’s house in September. Pastor Dave said it well recently, that “we sure have come a long way since eating hotdogs in the backyard!” Our goal was to build a core from September through December and the Lord did just that. Our second goal was to find a place to begin Sunday morning services from January through April and the Lord has secured that for us as well. We wanted to take a few months to build our team, work out any issues and to grow a little more. The Lord has helped us every step of “The Way” (pun definitely intended!). Our goal has been to officially launch as a church on Sunday April 28th and that is exactly what we will be doing. If you are receiving this email and are near the Wadsworth area, we would LOVE to have you come for a visit. Many of the “Friends of The Way Church” already have church homes but if you are available to join us for a visit on April 28th, we would be so honored to have you. Every person on this email list has been used by God to help us get to where we are either through prayer support, financial support and with a lot of words of encouragement Please pray that the Lord directs the exact people He wants to join us for our launch service on April 28th and that we can make much of Jesus at our launch service!
2 by 2: A couple of weeks ago we started the first of many evangelistic endeavors that we call “2 by 2”. Jesus, after training His disciples for some time, sent them out to the surrounding communities to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God, and He sent them out 2 by 2. Using this model, 7 of us (8 if you include little Everett who was our secret weapon to connect with people in downtown Wadsworth!) went to First Fridays in downtown Wadsworth to visit with the community that gathers on the first Friday of each new month. It was cold, not many people downtown to talk to and it was COLD! But we felt very encouraged because we know that the Lord was with us, we did pass out some cards for The Way and made a few connections during this time. I always tell our people God is not as concerned with what we are capable of, but rather what we are willing to do. We were blessed to do this for the first time and believe that in the future the Lord will use 2 by 2 to reach people for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Please pray for this ministry to be more and more fruitful as we share Jesus Christ in an organic and direct way!
Our First Baptism: This past Sunday, April 14th we had our first baptism at The Way Church. A lady that gave her life to Christ was baptized alone with one other member as well. It was a powerful time for our church family to see people following the example of our Lord and to symbolically show in the water what Jesus did for us when He saved us. We have three more people already that are ready for baptism and we will be holding that next service in the near future. We are believing that these first two baptisms are the first of literally thousands of people that will come to Christ through the ministry of The Way Church. We cherish your prayers for us as we continue to move forward with the vision God has placed in our hearts at The Way!
MISSION Kids!: We are so excited that we are seeing more and more kids join our MISSION Kids ministry each week. Tiffany has been doing an amazing job of building a rotation and adding to our children’s worship experience week after week. We are already praying about the possibility of expanding to the lower level of our building to accommodate the growth of MISSION Kids and our teem ministry The Hangout. Please pray that God will continue to bring more children to The Way and that our team can continue to grow to minister to the children God brings! Mostly pray that these children come to Christ and grow closer to Him through MISSION Kids!
The Hangout: The Lord has brought a group of teenagers to The Way Church and we are doing our best to follow His lead! The first Sunday of every new month we are having “The Hangout” for our middle school and high school kids at The Way. We held our first Hangout on the first Sunday in April and the kids had a really good time. They had food, video games and a great bible lesson led by Pastor Dave and Davey. We are also having the kids fill out tickets every time they are in attendance for a big grand prize to be drawn in the month of September (one for the guys and one for the girls!). Please pray that God continues to bring more and more teens to The Hangout. We know this is a crucial time in their lives and a GREAT mission field in our society. Pray that our kids bring their friends, and that these teens grow closer to Jesus Christ through this ministry.
I want to thank you for reading this letter and or your love and support. If there is anything that The Way Church can do to minister to you or your family please let us know.
You are welcome to send an email to pastorsteve or pastordave@thewayonline.org any time if you need anything.
Have a great rest of your week and may the Lord bless you and your family in great and powerful ways!
Pastor Steve and The Way Church